


How to make your local clan leader blush

by scalira



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-07
Updated: 2016-09-07
Packaged: 2018-08-13 19:09:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7982941
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scalira/pseuds/scalira
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Simon realizes vampires are capable of blushing after he sees Raphael getting flustered, and after that it becomes his mission to get Raphael to blush again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Observations

**Author's Note:**

> I feel kind of 'eh' about this one but I'm just gonna throw it into the ao3 void and hope that someone appreciates it at least a little bit

When he was still human, Simon had a lot of questions about vampirism. It just didn’t make _sense_ to him, especially because there were so many different approaches to it. In some movies they sparkled (though Twilight probably wasn’t the most reliable vampire source) and in others they burst into flames when they came into contact with the sun. In some movies their skin was as hard as stone and you could only kill them by decapitating them and setting them on fire, and in others a nice wooden stake would do the job just fine. Vampires feeding on themselves turned into weird Gollum-like creatures in _Daybreakers_ and they could turn into bats in Dracula remakes. There were just so many inconsistent things about them.

Some of his questions were answered after his Turning, like the sun thing (“no, Simon, we don’t sparkle in the sun. Please don’t try it, or you’ll be a nice heap of dust in seconds”) and others he found out himself (like the erection thing, because, let’s be honest, if you’re undead, does blood still run through your veins? Can it still reach certain places? The answer is yes to both questions, thankfully).

He should’ve probably also figured that vampires are still capable of blushing. Naturally, if blood can run south it can certainly run north too. But he had never really pieced these two facts together until he saw Raphael all red and flustered, trying to hide his blush by ducking his head when he walked past Simon.

Simon doesn’t know why the concept of Raphael blushing intrigues him so much, but he finds himself in his room later replaying the events of the past night, trying to figure out what had Raphael so flustered.

They had gone to a meeting with a rivaling clan earlier that night. The whole clan was present because the leader of the Boston clan had insisted on it. Raphael had been reluctant to leave the hotel unattended, but the Shadowhunters promised to look after it. Raphael had even been _more_ reluctant to leave the hotel in the hands of the Nephilim, but Simon had eventually persuaded him to just trust them and worry about the meeting instead.

It had all been very tense, sometimes even bordering straight up hostile. The Boston clan accused the New York clan of siding with the Shadowhunters and saw this as a war declaration against other vampire clans, and it had come really close to a full blown fight a few times.

But Raphael handled everything perfectly. He remained calm and stoic, demanded attention without even raising his voice. Not once did he yell or growl, not once did he threaten or say something wrong. Simon could literally feel the others around him relax under Raphael’s words, and even the Boston clan members seemed to show a genuine interest in what he had to say.

In the end, the Boston clan leader – a woman named Kali with dangerous eyes and an even more dangerous smile – believed Raphael when he said he had never intended to misinform them. They had shaken hands and reestablished their alliance in front both of their clans, and then the Boston clan had left back to their territory short after.

Magnus had been there too. Simon had only noticed because he had pulled Raphael aside when the Boston clan was gone, and had told him something that made him try his best to bite back a smile. When Raphael had walked past Simon, he had that blush high on his cheeks.

Which means Magnus is the reason for his blush. Or whatever he said, that is.

Simon can’t help but be curious. He’d never seen Raphael blush before (hell, he’d never seen _any_ vampire blush before) and he kind of liked the way it made him look. It made him look less intimidating and more approachable, more _human_. It was a nice look on him.

So Simon _really_ wants to see that look on him again.

He never really was the flirter. He normally aimed for the ‘adorkable nerdy friend’ thing and tried to woo people with his excessive knowledge of Star Wars and pointless history facts, like how Cleopatra’s ancestors were Greek. It never actually _worked_ , but he stuck with the image anyway.

But being Turned into a vampire made him realize that you have to take risks in life. You have to step out of your comfort zone to achieve something, or else you’ll be stuck in your image for the rest of eternity. And as much as Simon likes Star Wars, he’d rather not be known as the Star Wars Vampire three centuries down the line.

So he flings all his doubts out the window and decides to do everything in his power to get Raphael to blush again.


	2. The Isadora Approach

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Simon uses Girl Meets World as inspiration in his plan

So, as stated earlier, Simon _really_ isn’t the flirter. He doesn’t even know where to _start_. He isn’t good at being smooth or flirty or anything like that. The only thing he’s actually good at is watching TV shows.

And, okay, he might not really be the target audience of Girl Meets World, but it’s a really good, educating show with a lot of life lessons. So, it’s not really _that_ bad that he watches it almost religiously.

And besides offering great life advice, Girl Meets World also gives Simon the perfect way of getting Raphael flustered.

It takes him a few tries before he can muster up enough courage to talk back to Raphael when he addresses him. The first time he tries to do it, he almost chokes on his own words and is rewarded with a scowl and a huff before Raphael turns on his heels and walks away. He gets halfway through his sentence the second time before freezing and just cutting himself off mid-sentence, which makes Raphael squint at him before continuing his rant about the importance of training.

The third time, however, Simon succeeds.

They’re sparring one night, something they do annoyingly often. How many times will Raphael work him to the ground before realizing that Simon just isn’t good at sparring? They’re both sweaty and gross, hopping from foot to foot as they dance around each other, when Raphael says: “Jesus, Simon, at least _try_ to have a steady stance. You’re tiptoeing so much you look like a ballerina.”

And Simon grins and blurts: “Stop flirting with me, Raphael,” to which Raphael immediately drops his arms, eyes huge, and stutters: “I’m not flirting with you.”

He might not blush, but it’s the first time since they began training together that Simon manages to get him on the floor.

*

Simon gets more confident as he teases Raphael more. If Isadora Smackle taught him anything, it’s the joys of confusing attractive guys in their presence.

Raphael walks into his room a few nights later, looking down onto a clipboard and absentmindedly chewing his pen. He looks really cute like that, and Simon has to press his nails into the palms of his hands to refrain from swallowing audibly.

“Room check,” he announces once he looks up to look at Simon.

“Room check? What is this, boarding school?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never been to boarding school. Have you?”

Raphael looks at him with raised eyebrows and a small smile tugging at the corners of his lips, and Simon briefly loses his voice and can’t do anything other than shrug.

Raphael looks around his room, occasionally writing something down, and then lets his eyes wander over Simon’s bed.

“If you wanna check me out, you really don’t have to come up with lame ‘room check’ excuses,” Simon says daringly. Raphael’s eyes immediately shoot up to look at him, and though he’s still as pale as ever, Simon knows he wasn’t expecting him to say something like that.

“You wish I would check you out,” Raphael snorts, but he turns around and quickly makes his way out of Simon’s room.

*

Over the past couple of months, Simon and Raphael have developed some sort of routine.

They’ll both wake up around 10pm and have breakfast together, just keeping each other company as they mind their own business. Raphael usually scrolls through some news site to detect any signs of rogue vampire behavior, and Simon mostly reads online novels on his phone. He never really liked silence, especially around friends, but somehow it’s easy to hang out with Raphael without saying anything. Sitting with him in silence doesn’t make him uncomfortable at all.

After breakfast, Raphael lets Simon do whatever he wants for a while. Simon mostly wants to hang out with Raphael, but he can’t really tell him that without embarrassing himself so he mostly sticks with watching some episodes of his favorite shows.

Raphael comes to get him around 2am for training, and then they train for a few hours before getting some blood and getting comfortable in the lounge to watch a movie.

Simon had been surprised when Raphael agreed to watch a movie with him after he’d made a Karate Kid reference during training he didn’t get. They ended up watching all possible versions of Karate Kid to establish which one was best, and after that it just… kind of became their Thing. They would train and then take a shower (separately, of course) before fetching some blood and settling on the comfortable couch in front of the huge TV.

They started at both ends of the couch, keeping plenty of space between them, but after some time they gravitated more towards each other. Now Simon has his legs casually thrown over Raphael’s lap, his head resting on the arm rest of the couch. Raphael usually puts his hands on his shins and rubs them absentmindedly as they watch the movie, almost like stroking a cat and kind of forgetting you’re doing it.

“You know,” Simon says halfway through Man Of Steel, “you kind of remind me of Superman. A less hot version, of course.”

Raphael rolls his eyes and slaps Simon’s shins without any heat to it. “Fuck you, Simon.”

Simon wiggles his eyebrows. “You wish,” he grins.

Raphael claps his jaw shut and looks away, but his cheeks remain pale.

Damn it.

*

The fourth time Simon tries the Isadora Approach, as he has named it in his head, is in front of the entire clan. He wouldn’t have dared to talk to Raphael like this mere months ago, but now he finds his clan leader just as intimidating as an angry kitten. Sure, he can be rude and kind of an asshole, but Simon knows it’s all just an act. He caught Raphael working on a personalized gift for a clan member once, and though Raphael tried to hide it behind his back, he hasn’t looked at him the same ever since.

So when they’re at a meeting, all gathered around a huge table discussing clan matters and sipping blood, and Raphael simply addresses Simon by his name, Simon grins and says: “Give it up, Raph. I’m not your type anyway.”

Someone almost chokes on the blood they’d been drinking and two clan members exchange horrified looks, glancing between Simon and Raphael in shock. The room falls silent at once.

But Raphael just sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose before looking back at Simon. “You could be my type,” he says slowly, “if you would stop being such an insufferable pain in the ass.”

Simon doesn’t have a good comeback to that (Lucas never pulled a Raphael on Smackle, so he really doesn’t have an example to fall back on) so he just remains silent for the rest of the night.


	3. Pick a pick up line

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When everything else fails, use pick up lines

When Simon realizes his Isadora Approach isn’t working, he quickly moves on to plan B. It’s not a really solid plan or even a moderately good one, but since he really doesn’t have anything else to work with, it will have to do.

The first opportunity arises when Simon walks into Raphael’s room right when Raphael is bent down to grab something off the floor, allowing Simon a great view of his ass.

Now, Simon has noticed the perfect curve of Raphael’s ass plenty of times. He’s also openly stared at it plenty of times, when Raphael was walking away from him or reaching out to grab a cup from the highest shelf in the kitchen or like this, bent down to snatch something off the floor.

Simon had always refrained from saying something about it (mostly too terrified of Raphael to do so) but now he’s on a mission and also no longer scared of him, so when he’s greeted by Raphael’s ass he blurts out: “Did you sit in sugar?”

Raphael startles and turns around, glaring at Simon but not answering the question.

“Because you have a sweet ass,” Simon continues.

Raphael narrows his eyes at him, almost like a snake.

“Is there anything you needed besides commenting on my ass?” He asks.

Simon shrugs. “Not really, no.”

“Well then, okay.”

And with that, Raphael walks past him out of his room. Simon whistles when he walks past just to spite him, and Raphael yells an obscenity at him that makes Simon laugh out loud.

*

Simon won’t say that they go on _dates_ or anything, but he and Raphael do often go out together. Even if it’s just on a walk through Central Park or grabbing a blood milkshake at Taki’s (because _that’s_ a thing, apparently), or even just checking with the werewolves (Raphael and Luke are secretly great friends, which absolutely blew Simon’s mind when he found out). Simon tries not to refer to these nights as Date Nights because he _knows_ they aren’t, but it’s still really nice to have Raphael to himself from time to time.

Raphael becomes someone else entirely when he’s alone with Simon. He drops his clan leader façade completely around him and is just a pleasant asshole when they’re alone. It feels kind of intimate, getting this Raphael in private. Like a secret only they know about.

They’re just taking a stroll through New York city tonight, keeping a light conversation flowing between them. Simon found out Raphael is pretty easy to talk to once you get through the first few layers of assholery, and they actually have quite a lot in common. Simon never thought of Raphael as someone who likes videogames, but apparently he has a weak spot for games with a ‘story’ to them you could alter, like Life is Strange or The Walking Dead. He also likes Star Wars, which came as a complete surprise to him but is very nice to know.

They pass a local McDonalds on their walk and though Simon is having a really nice time, his plan to make Raphael blush resurfaces. So he nudges him with his shoulder, points at a sign of a cheeseburger and says: “What's the difference between a cheeseburger and an erection?”

Raphael almost chokes on his own spit and turns to Simon wide-eyed.

“ _What?_ ” He hisses, sounding shocked.

“You’re not giving me a cheeseburger right now,” Simon finishes proudly.

“Simon, I swear to _God,_ ” Raphael sighs, exasperated. He’s not blushing, but he’s trying his best to bite back a smile.

“Oh, you like it,” Simon grins. Raphael just nudges him, but doesn’t deny it.

*

Simon doesn’t get nightmares that often anymore. They were worse when he just got Turned and Simon still vividly remembers screaming himself awake, remembering too well what it felt like to be underground, to suffocate on dirt and the fire in his throat.

He learned how to stop screaming himself awake around the three month mark after his Turning. Now, he just gasps when he wakes up and sits upright in bed until his breathing calms down.

But the nightmare he just woke up from was an extremely scary one, and though he gets his breathing under control pretty easily he just can’t manage to fall back asleep.

So he throws back his sheets and pads his way across the hall, to Raphael’s room.

Raphael is still awake, like he usually is. He once told Simon he suffers from insomnia and often stays awake for half of the day before exhaustion finally pulls him under, and today isn’t any different.

He’s sitting up in bed when Simon peeks his head around the door. He looks up from the book he’d been reading when he notices Simon and quirks an eyebrow.

“Everything okay?” He asks softly. Simon likes to think his voice is soft just because of Simon, but he knows he’s probably keeping his voice low to not wake the rest of the clan.

“I lost my teddy bear,” Simon starts as he takes a step into the room, “will you sleep with me instead?”

And honestly, it’s not the greatest time to continue his quest. He’s still trembling from the nightmare he just had and he can taste blood at the back of his throat, but he never was good with emotions anyway. A cheesy pick up line looks like a better solution to his problem than actually talking about his _feelings_ and _emotions._

The line makes Raphael smile nevertheless, and he throws back the covers on the other side of his bed.

“Did you have a nightmare again?” He asks, and this time there’s no doubt that the softness in his voice is because of Simon.

Simon nods and shuffles closer until he’s reached the edge of Raphael’s bed. It isn’t the first time he’s come to Raphael after having a nightmare, and after the first few times Raphael had just suggested sleeping in his bed instead of being restless in his own. It had become a habit, almost. Simon would come to Raphael after a nightmare, Raphael would invite him into his bed and Simon would fall asleep while Raphael stayed up, restless as always.

This time, however, when Simon crawls in bed next to him, Raphael settles back into the mattress too.

“No insomnia tonight?” Simon wonders.

“It has come to my attention,” Raphael says, shifting until he’s on his side and facing Simon, “that I struggle less with restlessness when you’re here with me.”

Simon raises an eyebrow. “Oh, really?”

“Don’t flatter yourself. It’s probably just because there’s another body next to me.”

“So are you saying that you would have just as little trouble sleeping if a random clan member were lying next to you instead of your favorite fledgling?”

“Who says you’re my favorite fledgling?”

Simon smiles widely. “I’m your only fledgling. So that also automatically makes me your favorite one.”

“Mhh,” Raphael hums, the corners of his lips tugging up in a small, intimate smile. He shuffles closer to Simon until they’re almost sharing a pillow and sighs contently.

“Goodnight, Simon,” he says, breath tickling Simon’s cheeks.

“Goodnight,” he whispers, and he only curses at his own blush settling high on his cheeks a little bit.

*

Simon’s plan B might not be working either, but he has to admit he enjoys it too much to quit. He even finds himself scrolling through the ‘Top 10 best pick up lines’ on various sites, writing the best ones down and memorizing them. They might not get Raphael to blush, but it’s very entertaining to see him try to glare while he’s biting his lip not to smile or to see him roll his eyes and barely hiding the fondness in them.

It’s no secret that Simon likes wearing Raphael’s clothes, and probably does it a bit too much to be considered ‘platonic bro-sharing’. But frankly, he doesn’t really care. There’s just something extremely appealing about wearing Raphael’s clothes, about smelling his scent on him. And since Raphael doesn’t even seem to mind Simon occasionally raiding his closet, Simon does it quite a lot.

It also gives him a great opportunity to use one of his great pick up lines.

“Hey, Raph,” he says one day, looking down on the shirt he’s wearing, “do you know what this shirt is made of?”

“Cotton, probably,” Raphael says dryly, and Simon makes a face.

“No, it’s made out of boyfriend material!”

Raphael frowns at him from across the room.

“I don’t think that’s a real material,” he deadpans.

“Damn it, Santiago. You weren’t supposed to answer that!”

“Well, you asked me a question!”

“Do you not know _anything_ about modern day flirting?”

Raphael cocks a bow, eyes Simon up and down and opens his mouth to say something, but then seems to change his mind as he bites his lip.

He eventually curls his lips into a devilish smirk and says: “You know, that shirt's very becoming on you. If I were on you, I'd be coming too.”

Simon’s jaw almost drops to the floor, and Raphael’s laugh booms through the hotel. He pushes himself out of the chair he was sitting in, walks to Simon and briefly stops right in front of him, letting his eyes wander up and down. “Yeah, I’d be coming indeed,” he says thoughtfully, and then he pats Simon’s chest before leaving the room.

 _Damn it_ , Simon thinks, feeling his face flush, _he beat me at my own game._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shout out to Brianna on Twitter for helping me with Raphael's pick up line to shut Simon up!


	4. Compliments are key

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Simon finally succeeds.

It’s been a month since the Blushing Incident at the meeting, and Simon has still not succeeded in making Raphael blush again. He remains as pale as ever, and it’s driving Simon up the walls. He just wants to see some color on his cheeks, that’s not too much to ask for, right?

His two previous plans obviously didn’t work and actually resulted in Simon blushing more than anything else. Raphael is way too good at this. It’s like he’s absolutely immune to Simon’s obvious charm.

And yet he knows what he saw. He _knows_ Raphael was blushing, he _remembers_ the color of his cheeks. He isn’t imagining it, so he knows Raphael is _capable_ of blushing. He just needs to figure out how to get him there.

He’s plotting his next plan in his room, bent over papers and his laptop like this is some great Masterplan while he is in fact just doodling weird stick figures in his notebook, when he hears soft music.

It’s clearly the piano, but not like Simon has heard it before. Of course there are a lot of clan members who can play some instruments, and there’s almost always someone jamming _somewhere_ in the hotel, but nothing he’s heard before quite resembles what he’s hearing now. There’s a certain sadness to this, a certain melancholia that makes Simon feel like he’s missing something without even really knowing what he should be missing. A deep aching settles in his chest, and suddenly nothing in the world seems as important as finding the source of the music. As if that would loosen the sudden fist around his heart.

Simon climbs out of bed and goes out to investigate, occasionally stilling in the middle of the hallway to focus on the music. He’s still working on his enhanced senses and still struggles with enhanced hearing, but if he focuses solely on listening for something he’s usually pretty good at locating it.

That’s how he listens his way to an abandoned floor of the hotel, where he has to press against the wall and shimmy his way to the end to avoid sunlight streaming in from a hole in the wall. The music is louder here, and Simon follows the sound of it all the way to the end of the hallway to a closed door behind which someone is playing the piano.

Simon doesn’t hesitate before turning the knob and opening the door. He doesn’t even knock to let the pianist know someone is entering the room.

There’s only a piano in the middle of the room, nothing else. The person playing it is sitting with his back to Simon, but he would recognize that jacket and posture everywhere.

Raphael.

Part of Simon wants to interrupt his playing to wax poetry about his music, but the biggest part of him realizes that Raphael doesn’t even know he’s here. He’s probably so indulged in the music that he didn’t even hear Simon enter the room.

So Simon takes pleasure in just quietly listening to him play, leaning against the doorframe and watching his back. Raphael nods along to the music, and he imagines that his eyes are closed in concentration.

The song ends and Raphael sits back on the bench, resting his hands in his lap. He still seems oblivious to Simon’s presence, so Simon clears his throat to draw attention to himself.

Raphael jumps and turns, his eyes turning big when he sees Simon standing there.

“Simon!” He exclaims, sounding as if he’d just been caught stealing something instead of playing the piano. “What are you doing here?”

Simon shrugs. “I heard some music and wanted to come check it out. You’re really good, Raphael. Like, actually _amazing_. I would even dare to say better than Beethoven.”

And then, to Simon’s absolute _delight_ , completely unexpected and absolutely _gorgeous_ , Raphael blushes.

“I’m not better than Beethoven,” he says shyly, and oh _God._ He sounds _shy_. This is the best day of Simon’s life.

Simon walks to the bench and sits down next to Raphael, jabbing a finger in his direction.

“You’re blushing,” he states.

Raphael ducks his head. “I’m not.”

“Yes, you are! All this time I tried to get you to blush, and I just needed to _compliment_ you? Oh my god. Oh my _god_! If I had known that… Raphael.”

Raphael’s head shoots up at Simon’s serious tone, eyebrows raised in question and cheeks still amazingly red.

“Raphael,” Simon says again, “you’re amazing. Not only at playing the piano, though you’re an _incredible_ pianist. But you’re also a great leader, and a good friend, and devastatingly good looking. You’re so good at fighting I’m sure you could singlehandedly beat the Shadowhunters. And you’re _funny_. I never thought I would say this out loud, but you crack me up. You’re basically, objectively speaking, absolutely perfect.”

Raphael is blushing almost aggressively now, if that’s even a thing.

“Simon, stop,” he says weakly, embarrassedly.

“Look at you!” Simon exclaims, cupping Raphael’s cheeks to look him in the eye, “you’re so cute when you blush. God, I _really_ want to kiss you now. You’re irresistible like this.”

Raphael’s eyes turn even wider and his skin turns even hotter under Simon’s cool touch. His lips part slightly.

“I wouldn’t… I wouldn’t be opposed to you kissing me,” he stutters.

“Really?” Simon asks.

“Really,” Raphael breathes, already leaning into Simon.

They meet each other halfway, their lips touching so softly Simon almost doesn’t believe it’s real. But then Raphael presses harder against his mouth, moving his lips against Simon’s, and everything suddenly feels solid and warm and _real_. Raphael’s lips are just as hot as his cheeks are, almost like he’s holding sunlight right under his skin. It makes Simon’s fingertips and lips tingle.

He moves his fingers over Raphael’s cheeks to his jaw to eventually let his hands rest on his neck, and Raphael reaches up to tangle his fingers in Simon’s hair. He gasps softly when Simon parts his lips and slips in his tongue, slow and almost teasing.

The kiss lasts for minutes or hours or days. Simon isn’t sure. All he knows is that he doesn’t need to breathe, and neither does Raphael, and he’s never been happier to be undead. There really is no reason to stop kissing, no need to gasp for air. So maybe the kiss _does_ last for hours, and Simon doesn’t mind one bit.

When they finally do part, they’re both blushing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (loosely) based on the Tumblr prompts:   
> so i stole this from an episode of girl meets world but imagine simon constantly assuming that raphael's flirting at the littlest things and he knows it annoys raph so he keeps doing it like: "hey simon" "give it up raph, im not your type" that type of thing (anytime raph addresses him, he pretends to see it as flirting) and it becomes a sort of running joke on simon's part and when raphael actually flirts with him he's like ?????? idk how to react i wasnt expecting this?? + simon doing every fucking thing in his power, if it means that raphael is going to blush, so both of them try to tease eachother/get revenge
> 
> Also, for those who want to know: Magnus made Raphael blush by telling him he's a great leader. In conclusion: Raphael has the most innocent praising kink. Just compliment him! He deserves it!


End file.
